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Abuja deplores default on ECOWAS levy

    ABIDJAN

    Nigerian Minister of Cooperation and Integration in Africa, Dapo Sarumi, said on Wednesday he was disappointed that just four of the 16 members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had paid up their dues to the ECOWAS secretariat, ‘The Guardian’ reported.

    Each ECOWAS country is required to pay to the secretariat 0.5 percent of customs revenue on extra-ECOWAS imports. This formula was adopted to ensure that the secretariat is solidly financed.

    Sarumi said at the 45the session of the ECOWAS Council of Ministers in Abuja, Nigeria, that the slow pace of implementation of the levy had become “a serious concern for Nigeria”. Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire and Nigeria have paid the levy. Other ECOWAS members are Cape Verde, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Sierra Leone and Togo.

    Mauritania notified the sub-regional grouping in 1999 that it was withdrawing from it, a process that takes one year.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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